Full-Day Kindergarten (FDK) will be available to 2,120 students in Vancouver starting September 2010, and will be expanded to all Kindergarten-aged students in 2011-12. Sixty per cent of Vancouver students will have access to FDK in the first year of implementation.

The BC government announced in its Speech from the Throne last August that BC would begin implementing FDK in September 2010, with implementation taking place over two years. To control costs, the ministry decided that FDK will be available to half of the province's Kindergarten population in the first year.

In determining which schools would be included in the first year of FDK implementation,  the Vancouver School Board followed the ministry's guidelines for Year 1 implementation by making FDK available first to students from the city's most vulnerable neighbourhoods, as well as those with Aboriginal heritage, English as a Second Language and low-incidence special needs.

The Vancouver School Board also followed the Ministry of Education direction that FDK classes be first placed in schools with available space because there is no money in the first year to build or purchase classrooms for FDK.

Schools slated for Year 2 of the implementation plan include sites that are at or near capacity; require infrastructure upgrades; are part of ongoing capital projects' work; and schools with district programs. The VSB will use the coming months to strategically address these challenges in advance of introducing full-day Kindergarten to these schools.

Because of anticipated challenges in the second year of FDK implementation, cross-boundary applications will be critically assessed school by school starting immediately and continuing through to the end of FDK implementation.

Registration for September 2010 Kindergarten has been underway in Vancouver since Nov. 1 and applications will continue to be accepted through Jan. 31. The VSB has replaced the first-come-first-registered process used in years past with a three-month application period. If more applications are received during this window than spaces available, a lottery will be held to determine who gets in and who will be placed on a waitlist.

Application received after Jan. 31, including those from younger siblings of returning students, will be processed as late applications and students will be placed after lotteries have been completed.

Families of students who submit applications prior to the Jan. 31 deadline will be informed before March 31 where their child will be attending in 2010-11.